Dark Horse to carry the Mass Effect torch

Fans of the popular Mass Effect franchise may be lamenting the fact that the last game in the trilogy has been published while the last DLC for ME3 was recently announced.

So while Commander Shepard won't be adventuring anymore in the context of a video game, the franchise universe will live on, courtesy of a comic book line published by Dark Horse.

Yes, the ongoing comic series will be authored by Mac Walters, none other than the writer of the Mass Effect games. Walters also penned part of Mass Effect 2, was the story lead for Mass Effect 3 and apparently worked on an earlier mini-series comics located in the franchise universe.

The Mass Effect: Foundation series is slated to feature 12 issues, with each edition rolling out on a monthly basis. The comic series will feature an original heroine that hasn't been seen in the Mass Effect franchise before. However, elements of the comic story are reportedly designed to expand established events that fans may have heard about and are likely curious to learn more about.

"Rather than going into an area where we tell brand-new stories in a universe that people know already, maybe we could find ways of fleshing out some of the stories that we've heard hints of already," Walters explains. "At a high level, that's where we thought about going with Foundations, and that's where we went with it."

However, fans of the franchise shouldn't expect to read about Commander Shepard in the comic series. The writer says that there's a problem representing Shepard without invalidating choices players made in the game.

"The problem is you can't even go back to a young Shepard," Walters notes, "because it could be male, female; you don't know the background..."

While some crossover is inevitable - Walters confirmed that there will be "some connections" with the upcoming Citadel DLC - the focus will be on telling the stories of side characters.

"People can look forward to some of their favorites showing up again," Walters teased. "[Perhaps] even characters that haven't been touched on before."